StockNews.com Begins Coverage on LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ)

StockNews.com started coverage on shares of LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ – Get Rating) in a report published on Thursday. The firm issued a buy rating on the auto parts company’s stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on LKQ. Roth Capital restated a buy rating on shares of LKQ in a research report on Tuesday, February 21st. Raymond James upped their price objective on LKQ from $60.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, January 13th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Buy and a consensus price target of $67.00.

LKQ Stock Performance

LKQ stock traded down $0.70 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $54.04. The company had a trading volume of 3,768,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,066,545. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. LKQ has a 12-month low of $43.37 and a 12-month high of $59.33. The company’s fifty day moving average is $56.91 and its 200-day moving average is $53.92. The company has a market capitalization of $14.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.15 and a beta of 1.36.

LKQ (NASDAQ:LKQ – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 23rd. The auto parts company reported $0.78 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.84 by ($0.06). LKQ had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 8.98%. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.04 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.87 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 5.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that LKQ will post 4.07 EPS for the current year.

LKQ Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 30th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 16th will be given a dividend of $0.275 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 15th. This represents a $1.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.04%. LKQ’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 26.76%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Holdings L.P. Valueact sold 371,976 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.91, for a total transaction of $20,797,178.16. Following the transaction, the director now owns 3,345,695 shares in the company, valued at approximately $187,057,807.45. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders have sold 3,700,295 shares of company stock worth $211,735,266 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.47% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in LKQ. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in LKQ by 81.1% in the 1st quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 279 shares in the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in LKQ by 300.6% in the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 665 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in LKQ by 148.1% in the 2nd quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 836 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 499 shares in the last quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in LKQ by 417.6% in the 3rd quarter. Ronald Blue Trust Inc. now owns 823 shares of the auto parts company’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 664 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Resurgent Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in LKQ in the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 93.55% of the company’s stock.

About LKQ

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LKQ Corp. is a distributor of vehicle products and its parts to repair, maintain, and accessorize automobiles. It operates through the following segments: Wholesale-North America, Europe and Specialty. The Wholesale-North America segment includes Glass and Self-Service segments. The company was founded by Donald F.